Resolution on Vo Thi Van

Whereas, Vo Thi Van, a librarian, is presently incarcerated in the Sikhiu refugee camp in Thailand after leaving her Vietnamese homeland in 1989; and

Whereas, Vo Thi Van suffered through fifteen years of political and personal persecution, including re-education camp internment; and

Whereas, Vo Thi Van is a graduate (1969) of the former National Institute of Administration (NIA) in Saigon, Vietnam, a government agency whose graduates were targets of persecution and discrimination under the Vietnamese govenment after April 1975; and

Whereas, Vo Thi Van is a graduate (1974) of the former George Peabody College for Teachers in Nashville, Tennessee, receiving her Master's Degree in Library Science, under the auspices of the United States Agency for International Development and with full funding from the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare; and

Whereas, Vo Thi Van seeks political asylum in the United States; and

Whereas, Vo Thi Van is presently subject to the Comprehensive Plan of Action, a 1989 multinational agreement for resettlement of refugees, whereby she will be sent back to Vietnam, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the American Library Association urges that the United States work directly with the Royal Thai government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to fully reinvestigate her status and claim of eligibility for refugee status.

ADOPTED BY THE
COUNCIL OF THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
June 28, 1995